Professional Royal Mistresses

When we think of people carrying out death sentences today, we think of low-key affairs where the media is not invited. However, the Professional Public Executioner was a true showman when he carried out death sentences in front of thousands of people. But that’s not how he made ...  Show more

You might want to write this episode down. Helen and Matt look at one of the most important occupations in human history, the Scribe, and we only know about this job because they were so helpful as to write down what they did. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.ihear ...  Show more

Why did kings and queens have spectators on their wedding night? Was sex always just for the love of their country and the want of an heir, or were some royals into different kinks?

And what about outside marriage? From an official mistress who does not have sex with ...

We've been fascinated by royalty for hundreds of years, but what do we know about their sex lives? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Today we're revisiting an episode Kate recorded with bestselling author Eleanor Herman to find out about what it took to not just be a mistre ...

Hortense Mancini is perhaps most famous for being a royal mistress, but her life was a series of adventures and scandals. Hortense was willing to do whatever it took to be a woman who lived on her own terms in the 17th century.

King George III's "criminal sister" was sent to marry the King of Denmark when she was a teenager. Her husband wanted very little to do with her, and so her attention wandered over to a charismatic doctor. That doctor slowly gathered power until he became all but an autocrat. ...